


The Sealed Family

by FrogDadUntitled



Series: The Sealed Family AU [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: BAMF Hollow Knight, BAMF Hornet, Found Family, Gen, Hollow Knight Spoilers, Lost Kin Needs a Hug, Post-Embrace the Void Ending (Hollow Knight), They/Them Pronouns for The Vessels (Hollow Knight)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 4,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28298166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrogDadUntitled/pseuds/FrogDadUntitled
Summary: Stories within the Sealed Family AU where Kin, Ghost, Hornet, and Hollow all live together
Relationships: Broken Vessel | Lost Kin & Hornet, Broken Vessel | Lost Kin & The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel, Broken Vessel | Lost Kin & The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & Hornet & The Knight, Broken Vessel | Lost Kin & The Knight
Series: The Sealed Family AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147322
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	1. Lost Kin

Lost Kin thinks about their life in the past and present. What they’ve seen. What they’ve felt. What they want. Sealed Family au.

Kin likes Deepnest. The Weavers and Spiders are kind and patient with them, especially when they take much longer to complete a simple weaving pattern. It’s not their fault, though. Their shell had been permanently broken from … from …

From what?

The recesses of their memories are foggy and dark. Their busy hands become idle, and the Weaver who is watching them, helping them, skitters close as if to ask ‘what’s wrong?’

Kin wants to give them an answer, but they don’t know it. Almost mindlessly, they touch the edges of their broken shell before jerking back.

 _Sorry_. They sign to the Weaver. _I got lost in my head_.

——

They don’t remember how they got here. Just that when Ghost finally came, they felt angry. _She_ took that anger and then their body. And then, and then … did it happen again?

No. It couldn’t have. They had _died._

How are they alive?

Ghost, right? Right.

Why were they angry?

~~They didn’t suffer!~~

They represented hope when Kin had none?

Yes, yes. That … that had to be it. There’s no use reminiscing on painful memories. They should go home.

So they do.

—————-

 _I once fought here_. Ghost signs to Kin. Their sibling had wanted to take them to a place that made them stronger.

…

It was the dead maw of the creature that startled them. The open hole of their shell _ached_. Their chest seemed to want to explode.

But they moved forwards. It’s for Ghost.

 _I don’t even know why they have a Shade room. Or how they made it_. Ghost muses. _Every time I would fall in the Colosseum, my Shade would always be right here_.

And with that, Kin screamed with a voice not of their own.

————

The first feeling Kin felt was curiosity, then fear.

They’re dreaming. They don’t want to dream. They don’t want to hurt anyone.

“This is not a dream.” A cunning voice sounds through the void, bringing color to the eternal darkness. “It is a nightmare.”

Kin opens their eyes to see … Ghost. And a small Hollow. And hundreds of other vessels. Kin isn’t strong like Hollow, nor agile like Ghost. Kin is just … Kin. Small, unable to get out of the pit.

Ghost and Hollow climb, and only Ghost falls down.

The vessels around them wither away slowly. Ghost wanders off into the Abyss and isn’t seen again. In a fit of anger, Kin punches one of the walls of the Abyss, and it gives way to their small burst of rage. 

They escape. Escape into the maw of a dead creature.

They’re given a nail. And they fight. And they die. The Lord Fool makes a room for their Shade, who learns to wait there instead of in the Arena like before. And they get to the top. And they leave.

They wander and wander and wander and wander. And then they see a glowing yellow, and run away. They go down, down, down. Trying to find that broken wall. Trying to find _home. Safety_. 

But they don’t. And they lay there, dying, until something bright and _angry_ brings them back.

———–

They wake again back at home, back in Dirtmouth. Ghost is nowhere to be found, but Hollow looms above them. Hollow’s sockets are watch Kin closely, worried. 

_Are you okay?_ They sign, and Kin nods. They feel okay. They think.

Hollow gently butts their shell against Kin’s, a sign of love. Of comfort. _Nightmares?_ Kin nods again.

Hollow gently scrapes their claws on Kin’s shell. They stay there. 

Kin thinks that maybe they could stay here. They could find themselves. Be happy.

That’s a nice future.


	2. Designs of the Sealed Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just small designs

Hollow:  
-White leather jacket w a small patch w their likeness  
-B o o t s. Their feet hurt sometimes when they’re traveling  
-nail is on their back in a sheath

Hornet:  
-cloak/dress has a small patch of her likeness  
-slits on the dress bc her other pair of arms is getting lonk

Ghost:  
-cloak has a patch of their likenesss  
-and many other colored patches of varying quality  
-usually some kind of flower. Hollow gives those to them

Kin:  
-they got a cape w a hood to hide the hole in their head  
-gloves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on Tumblr: @polyam-bug-wannabe and @sealed-family


	3. The Soul of the Shaken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into Lost Kin's thoughts

If you asked Kin how they felt about Hornet, they will tell you that she is very kind. She seems cold to most, but she is oh so very kind. After all, she taught them how to sew and weave.

And if you asked Kin about Hollow and Ghost, they would be very thankful. Ghost saved them, saved them from death and the Infection, the oh so bright Infection. Hollow protects them, always has. Hollow is there for them when it gets bright inside their mind, and vice versa.

But if you ask Kin about themselves, they get quiet. They say nothing, for there is nothing to say. The large hole in their mask says it all.

Kin is always afraid. Afraid of light, afraid of falling. Afraid of even tik-tiks. They’re afraid of Monomon and Herrah, they’re afraid of their mother and Lemm and Quirrel and, and, and . . .

They don’t like being afraid. At least their needle won’t hurt them, not badly. And the Weavers are kind to them. So they go to Deepnest to meet their friends and hide from their fear.

They make a new cloak for Hollow, theirs is much too small and ratty for them. They give Hornet a new dress, one for her arms and pockets for her silk. A better mothwing cloak for Ghost, made from a dead moth in Deepnest who had been cocooned in silk. 

They would never make something for themself. They wouldn’t know what to make. Their cloak fits them and has been patched up. They have no need for geo or weapons, not anymore. 

When Ghost presents Kin with a new cloak, made by Hornet, Kin is shocked. Hollow chose the color, a pale blue color with dark blue edges. They cry. They wear the cloak to remind them of their siblings, their family, and that they are there. That they love them. That with them it’s okay to be afraid, even just a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I shouldn't even be on this website but I wrote some things and needed to put them out


	4. Beforehand

If they’re being honest, until they had climbed the tower and killed Lurien, Ghost had been wandering Hallow Nest mindlessly. Until that wave of Infection had blown through their cloak taken from the corpse of their sibling, they hadn’t known what they were doing.

And that scared them.

The thought of “what if”. The “what if they  _ hadn’t _ realized what was happening”. 

The first thing Ghost did after they heard the scream was go to the Temple. The Crossroads had become worse and more dangerous, but they needed to feel their sibling. And once they got into the Egg, they cried. They felt the pain mixed with the Infection swirl behind the sealed entrance. The souls within their own mask started to become restless at feeling one of their own in such pain.

The next thing they did was go back to their once-Infected sibling. And while they didn’t cry, they mourned. Why not then? Why not when they had screamed? Taking out the Dream Nail, Ghost enters the mind of their sibling. They stand on the first platform, unable to move as they realize,  _ their sibling is still alive _ . They can  _ think _ . If they can get them to the Abyss, or a Hot Spring, or a Lifeblood Cocoon, maybe. Maybe. Maybe they will be okay. 

So Ghost holds the body of the broken vessel and gently takes them to the fountain of Void and lays them in it. When they find a way to kill the source of the Infection without harming any other Dreamers, and thus their sibling within the Egg, then they will move this sibling. 

When Ghost finds that the sun, the Radiance, is the one hurting their siblings, they’re mad. The Pale King could have stopped this. And they know who is hurting the surviving vessels. 

They move the broken vessel to the Hot Springs in the Pleasure House. They know there, at least, they will be safe. And they descend back into the Waterways.

When they finally rise to the level of the Radiance, they feel the shades within their mask shake and rattle and break free as the rest of the shades from the Abyss rise up, through the barrier between the waking world and the dreaming one, and join their brethren to fight their one true enemy. Their one true  _ living _ enemy. Ghost moves their new formed body to crush her, snap her crown of light and free those in the world of reality. 

When the god’s soul is consumed by the Void, they crawl through God Home, and burst forth from Godseeker’s head. Ghost can feel the shades’ want to hurt. Want for someone to pay. Ghost can’t have them find their siblings. So they gather the few shades they have control over and once again Shriek.

The other shades silence their revenge-fueled frenzy and their thoughts turn to Ghost. All Ghost can do is project their want to protect their family and friends, to fix what broke them and let things go to peace. 

The shades are silent, and slowly melt away. They sight, realizing that those who wronged them have died, and that they are finally free.

With that, Ghost goes to find their freed siblings.


	5. No Voice to Cry Suffering

_ “No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering.” _

Hornet had heard her father say that in the White Palace over and over again. She would wander the vast halls when her Mother had been there with the other Dreamers. She would hear him tell that to her sibling before their first molt. Had she only known . . .

No. Hornet cannot blame herself for being a child. But that last line, how had her father not known?

When Ghost had been wandering Hallow Nest, Hornet had seen them scream with the voice of shades long dead, their own voices shrieking the Void that made their souls. She had heard the moment Lurien had died, the shriek from the Black Egg echoed throughout the entire decaying kingdom. 

And Kin . . . 

When Hornet first heard Kin, it was after they had healed them, after their eyes had opened without the glow of Infection. They wanted to see the kingdom, the one that they had heard was so beautiful. The one they were denied. And they fell into Deepnest.

Where Ghost’s scream is the scream of suffering, and Hollow’s is one of pain, Kin screamed in fear. Hornet felt the fear race through her body as the voice of her sibling rang through her mask. A voice her  _ father _ wished they didn’t have.

Hornet remembers when she asked the White Lady about her sibling’s voices, the White Lady seemed confused. As if she didn’t know why her children screamed. That one holds the agony of the dead at bay, the one whose mind torments them and whose body aches with the pains of wounds long healed. And the one whose soul is so fragile that the idea of falling brings forth their own voice.

After that moment, Hornet swore upon her being that she would be a better sister to her siblings than their parents had been to them. To care for and love them as a sister should. To help them heal and grow and laugh and cry and become themselves. 

She would not let them suffer at the hands of others anymore.


	6. Through The Fog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Infection disappears, after the Radiance is defeated, Hollow goes to find themself

Hollow climbed up the final platform of the Howling Cliffs, reaching up their lone hand to touch the grey fog blocking most of the light. It’s cold, unbelievably cold. It’s a welcome feeling, the bitterness clasping their void-made fingers and chilling them to the imaginary bone.

They pull their hand back and gently reach behind and under their new cloak. They shudder at the sensation of freezing fingers, and put their arms at their side. Hollow takes a breath, closing their eyes and calming their mind, and they jump. 

At the peak of their leap, large, translucent wings fold out from behind them and hidden slits in their cloak fall easily around them. There’s a light buzz as they start to move, higher and higher through the cold and grey fog. It seems endless, the monotone colors and the bitter air, but as they rise, the drab clouds slowly get lighter and lighter, never white, but more a pale comparison to the dark grey at the bottom. 

Hollow breaks the fog and stops flying for a moment as they see what was beyond the cold greyness. As the clouds swirl from where they exited, above is something they had never beheld before, something more beautiful than a broken one like them should be near. 

Above the crippled vessel is a sea of colors, different blues and purples and reds and greens, all mixing and swirling together into vortexes of ethereal beauty and light, a light that, unlike the one once within them, was kind and gentle. Across this canvas of iridescent elegance are soft droplets of light, shining amongst the portrait of color.

Hollow stays still, the only movement the wings upon their back, which reflect the beauty above and before them. Slowly, ever so slowly, void drips from their eyes as the silently weep before it. It is the first time they have felt blessed by a higher being, the first time something so powerful, so  _ beautiful _ , has whispered “everything is going to be okay”. The first time they felt  _ whole _ . 

By the time they come down, they feel weak. They feel like crying and screaming and cursing their father and mother for what they had done. For what they have done. For once, they feel like they have the right to be happy. To be whole. To have a _fucking_ _apology_ for the injustice done to them.

And for the first time, Hollow knows what  _ they _ want to do. And they want to make things good again.


	7. Growth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance took more than their minds

Kin always knew they would never grow. After the amount of physical trauma they endured, it simply couldn’t happen. Still, the slight aching of want filled their chest when Ghost went into their first molting. 

They remember how Hollow described it. Your shade growing too big for your mask, and breaking it. Making a new one is slow and painful. Kin should be happy to never have to go through it, but still. They will never be taller than a husk. 

They tend to leave the home in Dirtmouth and go down to Deepnest when Ghost is molting. The Weavers don’t ask why, they let Kin into their homes to work and sleep, and occasionally cook. They like Kin’s cooking. They like their sewing.

It’s not home, but is still a close second.

Hollow thought they had stopped growing. The Pale King always told them that they would be sealed when they were grown, and they had been rather tall when they were sealed.

It hurt when Ghost went through another molting after they grew to the size of Hollow. They weren’t angry at Ghost, oh they could never be angry at their sibling. They were angry at what had been taken. Molting was a very special thing to Hollow.

It was an escape of sorts. Where they didn’t have to try to not think, only focus on the unending pain and get through the next day. It was a time when no one would bother them or come close to their quarters. It was a time where they could scream, just a little.

That’s gone now. They can never have it back.

They don’t _need_ it, that they know. But they _want_ it. An escape from the endless nightmares and ghost pains. A reprieve from their own mind.

Ghost goes off after that molting. Three days they’re gone, and Hornet goes to find them. Of the three of them, she’s the one who knows Hallownest better than anyone. So it only makes sense for her to go.

Hollow takes Kin to the Resting Grounds. They go through the graves of the dead, listening to the spirits. The glade is quiet at the water’s edge, though, and there the pair sit. 

They don’t do anything, just watch the reflection of the water ripples and get lost in the movement. For once, they feel at peace. That the demons within their minds left there by an unending light were far away.

_I love you_. Kin signs.

_I love you too._ Hollow replies.

And they sit there for a long time, enjoying the company of the other. At peace. Content


	8. Forces of Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost wants to be small. TW: self harm and vomit mentions. Nothing explicit, but they're still there.

Ghost never wanted to grow. Being small and fast and agile, that’s what they feel most comfortable being. So their first molt was more disgust and pain. 

They remember looking down and seeing claws made of void as for once they existed without their mask. They had _tried_ to unite the void back to what it once was, but it _wouldn’t_. They remember, once their mask started to grow back, seeing the joints in their limbs and wanting to cry. The natural bend of them, the pain when they were straightened out, it was like this body wasn’t even theirs anymore.

After some time, they got used to it. They weren’t as fast as before, but they could sprint farther and jump higher. They no longer had to use their moth wings to get to certain platforms and didn’t have to jump to get off benches.

Their second molt wasn’t as bad as the first. Unlike the first, there was no massive change. Their limbs got slightly longer and their horns changed ever so slightly, so it was more bearable. 

~~They pretend that exiting their room and seeing that Kin hadn’t been there since it started didn’t fill them with sadness.~~

Their third molt made them want to throw up. Before they got their (now much bigger mothwing cloak thanks to Kin), they saw a small pair of wings in their peripheral vision. A pair of wings of their own. Wings that meant that their cloak of three molts, the cloak that they’ve held on to since they could remember, was useless.

Hornet came in to see them trying to cut off their wings.

They hate how gangly everything is. How they have to duck to get into any house. They guess that they should be grateful that Iselda offered to help teach them how to fight with the extra height. Although the tall bug somehow manages to dwarf Hollow (how did she get into the shop in the first place?). They still want to be small again. They want to go back to before, where they didn’t know anything about what they where. It’s selfish, but they _hate_ living like this.

By that time, Ghost was as tall as Hollow. They hoped and prayed to gods that do not care that this will be the last time. Hollow is the eldest, and hadn’t molted since before they had been sealed away. 

It happened when Kin is patching a pattern onto Ghost’s cloak. They never got rid of it, they _couldn’t_. They never used their wings either, the six blades kept folded across their back. But Kin still wanted to see them, and so was sewing a visage of them onto the back of the cloak.

And then their shell cracked. Kin froze, and Ghost could feel the sadness wash off of them in waves. They could feel the pain start inside their head, the pressure. So they hid inside their room until it was over. 

They couldn’t bare to look at Hollow when they exited, they didn’t want to look _down_ upon their sibling. They never wanted to look down upon any of them, and yet-

They find themselves running. Long legs taking long strides, hiding up high when they need to keep themselves hidden from any waking person. Down, down, down. They find themselves at the bottom of the Ancient Basin, in the Abyss. Standing by the fountain that they got the shade cloak from.

They scream. They scream and cry and collapse upon the ground. They don’t want to _be_ this.

They don’t know how long they were there when it found them. A creature made of void, the one who rose up from their sleep to help them defeat the Radiance. It did not speak, Ghost guesses that’s a trait for all void creatures. It reaches out and touches the top of their mask with a single claw. 

**Child.** Ghost does not hear the voice, but knows it. Feels it. They _know_ this is the void creature. They can feel it’s intentions deep within their core. **Why do you hurt when your god enemy has been killed?**

Ghost feels the shame and disgust at their body rise up, and they want to curl up again. They want to hide, hide from the world, hide from themselves. They don’t want to _be_ this. 

**You wish to be a hatchling. A hatchling’s body is to fragile to handle much anything, child.**

Gods, Ghost just wants to be _small_ again. They don’t want to be so big. They hate their wings, they hate their arms and legs. They hate how their mask has warped so far from what it once started with. They just want to be small gods damn it. 

The void being gently takes Ghost up into another clawed hand, its many eyes blinking. It seems to think for a moment, and places a claw back upon their mask.

**I can help you child, if you permit. If you so wish to be small, and to stay small. It can be done.**

Ghost nods faintly, and there’s a bright light, and then an unending darkness


	9. Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hornet finds Ghost

Hornet is worried. So, so very worried. She’s scoured the entirety of Hallownest, even Deepnest, to find her sibling. They’re nowhere to be seen. No one has seen them in the past four days.

She hopes they’re okay. Last she saw of them, they looked so uncomfortable. And after a molting, where one is supposed to feel _better_.

Where _are_ they? Are they _okay_?

Hornet fidgets with her two extra hands from her own molting. She can’t help worrying, Ghost has a habit of getting into dangerous situations when they aren’t thinking straight. 

Finally, she stands at the edge of the entrance to the Abyss. If Ghost is nowhere, then they could only be here. Unless . . . no she will not think of that. She refuses to believe that Ghost would just leave.

So here she is, standing before the prison of her siblings. Afraid. 

She steps in.

It’s like the last time she was here, cold and dead. A feeling of dread fills her as she stands at the edge of the metal platform, looking down into the darkness. She doesn’t want to go, but this is her _sibling_. She _loves_ them.

So she jumps.

And feels something grab her and put her back onto the platform.

 **Ejp str upi** Something rings out inside her head, and she almost falls down. **Ejsy fp upi esmy**

“What are you saying?” She asks, trying to find the strength to look up at the thing.

She feels the air around her shift, and she looks up to see a large, black creature with many eyes of white staring at her. It’s body is tense, two arms slowly rising to her eye level.

 _Who are you?_ It slowly signs. Hornet tilts her head. _What are you doing here?_

“I am Hornet, the Princess of Hallownest.” She answers formally. “Who might you be?”

 _Void_ It says.

They stand there in silence, Hornet watching as the void creature, and the void creature watching back.

“Where,” Hornet starts. “Where is Ghost? They just. They just molted and disappeared and we’re really worried.”

The creature blinks, body tilting. _Ghost? The Child?_

Does this creature think of Ghost as a child? Well, they are. They are seen as the youngest of them all, it would make sense. So Hornet nods.

The creature turns to the Abyss, and a shade rises from the void beneath. It looks like a Vessel after its first molting, and its horns . . .

“Ghost?”


	10. Forgive Me Sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost feels like themselves for the first time in a long time

Ghost had woken up as a Shade. The void creature is staring at them, eyes blinking. 

**Are you feeling better, child?** It asks, and Ghost nods. This size, although not the one that they had loved the most, was still very comfortable to them. Still _them_. 

Ghost feels the creature laugh within their mind, and a claw comes up and gently runs along the top of their head. **You are an interesting one, child. You were the one who left, weren't you?**

Ghost thinks. The only time they had been near a void creature of this magnitude was . . . the final fight against Her. This was the one who helped them save their siblings? Save their home?

Ghost nods again. They had left, they had to make sure Kin was healing alright, and that Hollow got out okay, and that Hornet was unharmed. The void creature nods. **I am glad that at least one of the children got away from all the pain.**

Ghost holds up three claws. _Kin and Hollow got away too. We got away together_.

If the creature could smile, it would be. Ghost can sense it. **You have a family together, then.** Ghost nods. 

That's when the void creature looks upwards towards the opening of the Abyss. Someone was here. It moves upwards to see it, Ghost staying behind.

 **Who are you?** Ghost hears. **What do you want?**

After a few moments, the creature gently picks up Ghost, who moves in a circle at the funny sensation of being lifted. They come face to face with Hornet, who looks surprised to see them.

She says something, but they don't hear her over their excitement of seeing her. They're moving around and signing rapidly. They want to tell her about how they found a way to be small again and met the one who helped destroy the Radiance. 

Hornet falls to the ground, weeping. Ghost stops moving, looking at their sister in worry. 

"Ghost, oh Wyrm." She chokes out, looking up at her sibling. "You're okay."

Ghost stands on the edge of the platform, not touching their sister. They know that their void uncontained will hurt her. 

**Your shell will grow back once you rest, child.** The creature's voice whispers. **And everything that was on your body is still there, just hidden inside the void.**

Ghost nods at the creature, who descends back into the void. They turn back to Hornet. 

_It said I will be fine after some rest._ They sign, and Hornet nods. 

"Let's get you home." She says, standing up, and Ghost can't help but agree.


End file.
